Alibaba Is Looking at India, but Not at Investing in Flipkart

“We are not currently preparing any investment into ShopClues or Flipkart. India is an important emerging market with great potential and we are committed to developing this market for the long term.”

“We see the Indian market as a natural progression of our strategy to expand Alibaba’s global footprint, and believe that it offers tremendous opportunities for the expansion of our ecosystem for doing commerce globally,” the company added.

Sooner rather than later, Alibaba will enter the Indian market:

Earlier this year, Alibaba Group president J Michael Evans told reporters that the company has been “exploring ecommerce opportunities” in the country.

Local media have been buzzing with news of a possible stake purchase in leading ecommerce company Flipkart, as well as its own foray in the sector.

The Chinese company’s entry in Indian ecommerce is imminent, and it has already held talks with various possible partners, multiple sources have told Tech in Asia over the months.

Investors reacted warmly to Tencent’s Q2 earnings report, published yesterday, in which the nation’s social media titan saw revenue soar at its fastest rate in over three years. Its stock jumped six percent in Thursday trading, pushing the market cap past that of its arch-rival. (…)

Aside from strong financials, Tencent saw the number of active WeChat users grow to 806 million from 600 million last year.